SHRM Assessment of Vodafone: A Comprehensive Report

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SHRM ASSESSMENT OF VODAFONE
SHRM Assessment 1: Individual Report
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SHRM ASSESSMENT OF VODAFONE
Executive Summary
Strategic Human Resource Management binds employees and managers together with a common
goal and strategic objectives. The business performance of a company could be improved by
implementing SHRM. Various HR policies and practices are selected to implement the changes
over SHRM. The strategic decision in an organisation could be affected by the external factors
such as the operational market of an organisation and unionisation and non-unionisation of
workplace. These factors are responsible for the declination or upgradation of an organisation. It
is essential to effectively deliver all the HR policies and effectively function on them.

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................4
1. Analysis of HR policies and practices within organisation selected...........................................4
2. Analysis of some external forces that may affect these HR strategic decisions within the
organisation......................................................................................................................................5
3. How the HR function is organised and how HR policies and practices are delivered................7
Recommendations............................................................................................................................8
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................8
References......................................................................................................................................10

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Introduction
Strategic Human Resource Management is the binding of human resource with strategic goals
and objectives of a company to improve their business performance and organisational culture.
This report sheds light on the various HR policies and practices within Vodafone. Vodafone plc
is a British multinational telecommunication conglomerate. It started as a start-up company in
1984, and became the world’s largest mobile telecommunication company. The company
majorly operates its services in Asia, Africa, Europe and Oceania (Vodafone.co.uk, 2019). The
business strategy and corporate responsibility (CR) of the company are interlinked, which helps
Vodafone to gain customer’s loyalty. In this report, some external factors are also discussed,
which affects the organisational culture of Vodafone along with function of HR and way these
policies are delivered. Further, some of the recommendations are provided in the report, which
could be implemented by Vodafone to enhance the functions of HR and deliver their products
and services more efficiently (Vodafone.co.uk, 2019).
1. Analysis of HR policies and practices within organisation selected
Vodafone is a young company of nearly 37 years and operates with more than 100,000
employees all over the world. According to Wang et al. (2011), there is only one best way to
manage people and that is by copying the approaches of successful organisations. High
commitment HRM or High-performance work systems refers to the nature of HR practices
examined or the methods used for data collection or the sectors in which study have been
conducted. Vodafone includes key components of HCHRM like balancing the work and life,
self-efficient teams and high management of teams. The hiring of employees at Vodafone is
made selectively and a sophisticated selection is performed. As mentioned by Hong et al. (2012),
the key component implemented in the organisation is employment security and managing the
internal labour markets. In addition, it is found in Vodafone that the involvement of employee is
high in participation, and each worker is given equal opportunity to raise his/her voice. All the
key elements of HCHRM are supported by a positive environment, hard work and commitment
of employees towards their work.

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According to Osman et al. (2011), best-fit HRM is based on developing the existing policies of
an organisation. Vodafone implements best fit approach to planning their future activities, form
effective strategies, performing objectives and creating policies, which led to reach the corporate
aims. The HRM strategy is as designed in Vodafone as it best supports the corporate strategy.
Each time, the best-fit approach is analysed, the changes are also analysed and these are
implemented in the policy. Vodafone needs to question the universality of best-fit approach each
time to gain the best-fit perspective. According to Batt and Colvin (2011), the various functions
performed by an HR at Vodafone such as selection, recruitment, training practice and reward
system are analysed using the best-fit approach. At Vodafone, best-fit approach highlights the
contingency between HR activities and organisational development along with organisational
internal and external environment. The best-fit approach supports the overall competitive
strategy and helps Vodafone to create potential competitive advantages.
According to Morgeson et al. (2013), the two approaches of management used by HR are hard
HRM and soft HRM. These approaches are implemented in Vodafone as these two approaches
are academic in nature and the HR manager likely adapts both, soft and harm approaches while
management. The employees in hard HRM at Vodafone are treated as a resource of business.
These are not treated as their employees and are implemented when there is continuous change
in number of employees. The employees are paid enough to be recruited and it is necessary for
the company to retain staff. As noted by Yang and Yang (2013), this management style is suited
to autocratic leadership style and the focus of hard approach is to identify the needs of
workforce. On the other hand, in case of soft HRM, the employees at Vodafone are treated as
their most important resource. The needs of employees are kept at high priority. Vodafone has a
long-term vision, so the company focus on longer-term workforce planning. The needs of the
employees are kept at centre. At Vodafone, the employees are rewarded for their good work,
roles and are motivated high.
2. Analysis of some external forces that may affect these HR strategic decisions within the
organisation
Vodafone tries to employee as many young employees as it could. Every workplace including
Vodafone tends to go digital as the globalisation and industrialisation will take place. Vodafone
runs many initiatives to help young people to prepare themselves for the upcoming future.

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According to Kim and Sung-Choon (2013), the jobs in Vodafone include App developer, video
designer, UX designer and many other technology related fields to play faster. The most
important skill at Vodafone includes of digital technology. Digital life skill teaches the digital
importance of gadgets and empowers online safety. Vodafone delivers a varied range of products
and services, including various technologies to the customers. This requires the company to be
highly efficient. Vodafone gives temporary employment to nearly 7% of its total workers as per
their necessity. The part time work in an organisation such as Vodafone is regarded as a crucial
opportunity. According to Bassi (2011), there has been a recent increase in part time employment
of Vodafone, especially in numbers of female employees. This shows the high employment
market of Vodafone.
There are various and undetermined changes over time in job opportunities. It is not easy for a
human to equip all those changes over a limited period. The pattern for adjustment cannot be
easily identified. Similar, is in the case of Vodafone, the company is moving along the path of
globalisation and adapting technology. The requirement of labour is declining each day, as their
positions are being held by robots. According to Harris and Tregidga (2012), high skilled labours
are the employees who bear this change and train themselves according to the updated skills. The
majority of the workforce at Vodafone is highly skilled. The temporary jobs are given to low
skilled workers who are unable to meet those required benchmarks. Low skilled workers at
Vodafone also need to face a constant decline in their wage where as high skilled labour face a
continuous growth in their wages. It is necessary for a company such as Vodafone to maintain
the relation and number of high skilled and low skilled labour, as the low skilled labours can be
trained and given less wages, which will make high profit for the company.
In non-unionised workplace, the employer makes all the rules, which are necessarily to be
followed by the employees. As referred by Marler and Parry (2016), the workers under such
conditions cannot raise their voice. On the other hand, in unionised workplace the demands of
workers are understood by the employers. The wages and the working hours are assigned to the
employees as per legal amendments. Vodafone is a unionised workplace in which union bargains
with the contractor to form a contract. The contract consists of wages, the time they need to work
and all the disciplines. The contract between employees and employer is legal and states all the
rules of employment. The safety, security and support are provided to unionised workers by

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Vodafone. Employees associated with unionised workplace have higher productivity, improved
workplace communication, lower-employee turnover and better trained workers. There are
various governmental laws, which protect the non-unionised workers, but these could not
overcome many benefits as compared to the unionised one.
3. How the HR function is organised and how HR policies and practices are delivered
Ulrich’s model redefines all set of responsibilities at an organisation. This model is used by
Vodafone to make good and effective shift management, form strategic management to
administrative and HR. According to Richards (2011), various roles such as employee advocate,
functional expert, human capital developer, strategic planner and HR leader needs to be played
by HR manager. The functions of HR at Vodafone are reorganised each time, when the company
faces a failure. In the last five years, 80% of HR functions have been reorganised and many
functions have been introduced. Ulrich’s model includes business partners, all the expertise and
some of the share service. The business partners, through this model gives them strategic
elements, so that the shared service can drive out efficiencies and makes the company to operate
more cost-effectively. HR specialists are used to deliver HR activities in an organisation. As
mentioned by Alfes et al. (2013), many of the organisations, including Vodafone have gone
some sort of changes in HR operating system. The overall effect of this change was found to be
positive and nearly 77% of these changes contributed to the Ulrich’s model.
The role of line manager in any organisation is to directly manage the functions and operations
of other employees. In Vodafone, same role is assigned to the line manager while delivering the
specialised services. According to Osman et al. (2011), Line managers at Vodafone reports all
the service sand operations performed directly to the higher-ranking manager. There are various
responsibilities associated with the role of line or direct manager in an organisation. According
to Mishra et al. (2014), they are responsible for the functioning of other employees and
management of resources. The responsibilities of line manager include recruiting and selection
of employees, providing talent and support to the newly recruited employees (Wong and
Laschinger, 2013). The assurance of job rotation is ensured by line managers by cross- training
the employees. The duty to provide coaching and gain feedback from all the employees at
Vodafone is provided to line managers. It is the responsibility of line managers to maintain the

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quality standards for all the processes. Moreover, the need of employees and fulfilling of these
needs is ensured by these managers.
Line manager at Vodafone plays an important role in the maintenance of overall organisational
performance. According to Wang et al. (2011), a good line manager performs all his duties
besides the challenges. The challenges associated with Line managers, while delivering HRM are
also vast. For a typical line manager at Vodafone, there are various stress points and challenging
roles. Some of these, while delivering HRM includes, the jobs that demand long hours. It is not
easy to a line manger to recruit an employee over a position or job, which require long hours.
This is a significant responsibility of a line manager to maintain overall operation and ensure the
security of its employees. Many a times, they have to deal with limited sources and obtain good
results. It is a challenging role for an employee to be appointed as a line manager as he/she has to
increase the span of control of managers, as it is difficult to build a new team each time for him.
Thus, the line managers also have to implement operational improvements and minimise the
expenses.
Recommendations
Every strategy in an organisation is critical and it is important for an HR to implement those to
ensure maximum success. It is important for an HR to implement right strategies, which could
support the organisational culture of Vodafone. Here are some recommendations, which could be
used by the HR at Vodafone to effectively manage the success ratio. The HR at Vodafone or any
other organisation must consider strategic vision. The HR needs to be properly aligned with the
organisational strategies. The vision of a company provides a continuous direction, so that it
could effectively manage the resources and employees. The staff of HR must also consider the
vision and work accordingly (Wong and Laschinger, 2013). The HR at Vodafone must also
consider the demographics, as the age of an employee signifies the need of cost, training and
retraining. It is important for an HR to maintain the transfer of knowledge from one department
to another. Thus, Vodafone must step forward and implement these changes to enhance their
productivity and efficiently manage their resources.
Conclusion

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SHRM ASSESSMENT OF VODAFONE
There are various responsibilities associated with the strategic management of human resources.
The HR and other managers such as line managers try hard to implement all the possible
changes. It is the responsibility of an HR to efficiently implement all the policies and perform his
duties. Vodafone being a high-performance company faces few difficulties in the management of
employees. Further, it is found that external and internal factors play an important role in
delivering the HRM practices and policies. Some of the factors may also make an HR to change
his decisions. It can be concluded from the report that strategic human resource management
binds all the employees and managers altogether. These must be wisely used to deliver all the
services and policies and improve the performance of an organisation.

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References
Alfes, K., Truss, C., Soane, E.C., Rees, C. and Gatenby, M., 2013. The relationship between line
manager behavior, perceived HRM practices, and individual performance: Examining the
mediating role of engagement. Human resource management, 52(6), pp.839-859.
Bassi, L., 2011. Raging debates in HR analytics. People and Strategy, 34(2), p.14.
Batt, R. and Colvin, A.J., 2011. An employment systems approach to turnover: Human resources
practices, quits, dismissals, and performance. Academy of management Journal, 54(4), pp.695-
717.
Harris, C. and Tregidga, H., 2012. HR managers and environmental sustainability: strategic
leaders or passive observers?. The International Journal of Human Resource
Management, 23(2), pp.236-254.
Hong, E.N.C., Hao, L.Z., Kumar, R., Ramendran, C. and Kadiresan, V., 2012. An effectiveness
of human resource management practices on employee retention in institute of higher learning: A
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Kim, H. and Sung-Choon, K., 2013. Strategic HR functions and firm performance: The
moderating effects of high-involvement work practices. Asia Pacific Journal of
Management, 30(1), pp.91-113.
Marler, J.H. and Parry, E., 2016. Human resource management, strategic involvement and e-
HRM technology. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 27(19), pp.2233-
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Mishra, K., Boynton, L. and Mishra, A., 2014. Driving employee engagement: The expanded
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Morgeson, F.P., Aguinis, H., Waldman, D.A. and Siegel, D.S., 2013. Extending corporate social
responsibility research to the human resource management and organizational behavior domains:
A look to the future. Personnel Psychology, 66(4), pp.805-824.

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Osman, I., Ho, T.C. and Carmen Galang, M., 2011. The relationship between human resource
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Available at: https://www.vodafone.co.uk/ [Accessed 15 May 2019].
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Wong, C.A. and Laschinger, H.K., 2013. Authentic leadership, performance, and job
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